Cell global identity reporting

ABSTRACT

The invention refers to a wireless device and to operating the wireless terminal, UE, connected to a serving network node associated to a serving cell of a radio access network, RAN, the method comprising: receiving system information from a neighbour cell of the serving cell, determining from the system information if the neighbour cell does or does not broadcast a global cell identifier, CGI, of the neighbour cell; and if the neighbour cell does not broadcast the CGI, transmitting a global cell identifier, CGI, report to the serving network node, wherein the CGI report includes an indication that the neighbour cell does not broadcast the CGI of the neighbour cell. The invention further refers to a corresponding network node and to a method performed in the network node.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. Application No.17/048,064 filed on Oct. 15, 2020, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,368,883, issuedon Jun. 21, 2022, which is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national stage applicationof PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2019/059971 filed on Apr. 17,2019, which in turns claims domestic priority to U.S. Provisional Pat.Application No. 62/659,054, filed on Apr. 17, 2018, the disclosures andcontent of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications andrelated wireless devices and network nodes and more specifically to CellGlobal Identity, CGI, reporting.

BACKGROUND

Since the first release of Long Term Evolution, LTE, automatic neighbourrelation (ANR) functionality has been introduced to automaticallygenerate the relations between base stations, eNBs. Such relations areused to establish connections between base stations support mobility,load balancing, dual connectivity, etc., and hence, ANR may reduceplanning and operation costs for operators.

In LTE, a user equipment (UE), also referred to as a wireless device,detects cells based on their primary/secondary synchronization signals(PSS/SSS), which encode a physical cell identifier or physical cellidentity (PCI). The PCI may not be unique across the entire network;there are 504 different PCIs available in LTE. A property of thesesignals is that the UE may autonomously detect a neighbour cell ID froman acquired PSS/SSS, so that the network does not need to provide aneighbour cell list to a UE. A UE may typically detect and measureneighbour cells by sampling a short time window (e.g., 5 ms) on thetarget frequency (which may be the same or different from a frequency ofa serving cell) and search (possibly offline) for PSS/SSS occurrenceswithin that sample. For each detected PSS/SSS, the UE can also perform ameasurement using the cell-specific reference signal (CRS) correspondingto the PCI. The result of that action is a list of neighbour cellidentities and corresponding measurement samples.

Once the UE performs measurements, mobility events can trigger thetransmission of measurement reports. Based on these reports, the servingbase station is able to identify that a given PCI belongs to a neighbourbase station in order to trigger a handover preparation procedure. Inorder to do that, the serving base station may need to maintain aneighbour relation table (NRT) that maps locally unique identifiers(i.e. the PCIs in LTE) with globally unique identifiers (or identities),e.g. the E-UTRAN cell global identifier (or identity), E-CGI. E-CGI isdefined in LTE as a combination of PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) ID(e.g., a combination of country code and network code) and enhanced cellidentity ECI (combination of eNB ID and cell ID).

A neighbour relation from a source cell to a target cell means that abase station controlling the source cell knows the ECGI/CGI and PCI ofthe target cell and has an entry in the NRT for the source cellidentifying the target cell.

Given the benefits of ANR in LTE, ANR may continue to be an importantfeature in next generation radio systems, denoted by NR or 5G. Thechallenging NR requirements may be expected to result in an even higheremphasis on seamless mobility than in legacy radio access technologies(RATs), which may further increase importance of automatic relationestablishment in NR.

In certain scenarios, however, the UE might not be able to detect theCGI of an (unknown) neighbour cell e.g. due to bad radio conditions.Different to LTE, where the UE may send a CGI report with an empty CGIinfo field in order to let the network know that the UE was not able todetect the CGI of the unknown cell, such mechanisms might fail in NR, asin NR the SIB1 can be absent, and thus, instructing more UEs to reportCGI would not help. In such circumstance, the network would not know ifany failed CGI reporting is due to the absence of SIB1 or not, and hencewould not know if it should instruct further UEs to perform CGIreporting (e.g. such that the serving base station can update its NRT).

SUMMARY

It is an object of the present invention to improve the handling of CGIreporting.

This object is achieved by the independent claims. Advantageousembodiments are described in the dependent claims and by the followingdescription.

According to some embodiments, a method is provided to operate awireless terminal or UE that is connected to a serving network node,wherein the serving network node is associated to a serving cell of aradio access RAN., the method comprising:

-   receiving system information (e.g. a master information block MIB)    of a neighbour cell of the serving cell,-   determining from the system information if the neighbour cell does    or does not broadcast a global cell identifier, CGI, of the    neighbour cell, e.g. if system information block 1, SIB1, is present    (broadcasted) or absent (not broadcasted); and-   if the neighbour cell does not broadcast the CGI (if SIB1 is    absent), transmitting a global cell identifier, CGI, report to the    serving network node,-   wherein the CGI report includes an indication that the neighbour    cell does not broadcast the CGI of the neighbour cell.

According to some embodiments, a method is provided to operate awireless terminal or UE that is connected to a serving network node,wherein the serving network node is associated to a serving cell of aradio access RAN, the method comprising: comprising

-   receiving a request from the serving network node to report the CGI    of the neighbour cell,-   receiving system information (e.g. a master information block MIB)    of a neighbour cell of the serving cell,-   determining from the system information if the neighbour cell does    or does not broadcast a global cell identifier, CGI, of the    neighbour cell, e.g. if system information block 1, SIB1, is present    (broadcasted) or absent (not broadcasted);-   starting a timer (e.g. a T321 timer) responsive to (and/or after)    receiving the request to report the CGI; and-   transmitting a CGI report to the serving network node,-   wherein transmitting the CGI report is performed before expiration    of the timer after (and/or responsive to) detecting that the    neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of the    neighbour cell. The timer may be stopped upon (and/or before)    transmitting the CGI report (otherwise the UE may continue to try to    get the CGI until the timer expires).

According to some embodiments, a method of operating a base station orgNB of a radio access network, RAN, the method comprising receiving acell identifier report from a wireless device, wherein the cellidentifier report includes an indication that the neighbour cell doesnot broadcast the global cell identifier, CGI, of the neighbour cell.The method may further comprise determining from this information if theindication is due to the absence of CGI broadcasting or if is due to thewireless device not being able to detect the CGI of the neighbour cellproperly. According to some embodiments a UE is provided that performsthe steps of:

-   receiving system information (e.g. a master information block MIB)    of a neighbour cell of the serving cell,-   determining from the system information if the neighbour cell does    or does not broadcast a global cell identifier, CGI, of the    neighbour cell, e.g. if system information block 1, SIB1, is present    (broadcasted) or absent (not broadcasted); and-   if the neighbour cell does not broadcast the CGI (if SIB1 is    absent), transmitting a global cell identifier, CGI, report to the    serving network node,-   wherein the CGI report includes an indication that the neighbour    cell does not broadcast the CGI of the neighbour cell.

According to some embodiments a UE is provided that performs the stepsof:

-   receiving a request from the serving network node to report the CGI    of the neighbour cell,-   receiving system information (e.g. a master information block MIB)    of a neighbour cell of the serving cell,-   determining from the system information if the neighbour cell does    or does not broadcast a global cell identifier, CGI, of the    neighbour cell, e.g. if system information block 1, SIB1, is present    (broadcasted) or absent (not broadcasted);-   starting a timer (e.g. a T321 timer) responsive to (and/or after)    receiving the request to report the CGI; and-   transmitting a CGI report to the serving network node,-   wherein transmitting the CGI report is performed before expiration    of the timer after (and/or responsive to) detecting that the    neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of the    neighbour cell. The timer may be stopped upon (and/or before)    transmitting the CGI report.

According to some embodiments, a base station of gNB is provided thatperforms the step of receiving a cell identifier report from a wirelessdevice, wherein the cell identifier report includes an indication thatthe neighbour cell does not broadcast the global cell identifier, CGI,of the neighbour cell. The base station may determine from thisinformation if the indication is due to

the absence of CGI broadcasting or if is due to the wireless device notbeing able to detect the CGI of the neighbour cell properly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in a constitute arepart of this application, illustrate certain non- limiting embodimentsof inventive concepts. In the drawings:

FIGS. 1A-E illustrate examples of LTE and NR interworking;

FIG. 2 is a Table illustrating operations of a base station uponreceiving a CGI report according to some embodiments of inventiveconcepts;

FIG. 3 is a Table illustrating operations of a base station uponreceiving a CGI report according to some other embodiments of inventiveconcepts;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless device or UE accordingto some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a network node eNB/gNB accordingto some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating operations of a wireless deviceaccording to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating operations of a base stationaccording to some embodiments of inventive concepts;

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a telecommunication network connectedvia an intermediate network to a host computer;

FIG. 9 is a generalized block diagram of a host computer communicatingvia a base station with a user equipment over a partially wirelessconnection; and

FIGS. 10 to 13 are flowcharts illustrating methods implemented in acommunication system including a host computer, a base station and auser equipment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of embodimentsof inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, beembodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limitedto the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments areprovided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and willfully convey the scope of present inventive concepts to those skilled inthe art. It should also be noted that these embodiments are not mutuallyexclusive. Components from one embodiment may be tacitly assumed to bepresent/used in another embodiment.

The following description presents various embodiments of the disclosedsubject matter. These embodiments are presented as teaching examples andare not to be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosed subjectmatter. For example, certain details of the described embodiments may bemodified, omitted, or expanded upon without departing from the scope ofthe described subject matter.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a UE (also referredto as a wireless terminal, a wireless (communication) device, a wirelesscommunication terminal, user equipment, a user equipmentnode/terminal/device) configured to provide wireless communicationaccording to embodiments of inventive concepts. As shown, UE may includean antenna 4007, and a transceiver circuit 4001 (also referred to as atransceiver) including a transmitter and a receiver configured toprovide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station eNBof a wireless communication network (also referred to as a radio accessnetwork RAN). The UE may also include a processor circuit 4003 (alsoreferred to as a processor) coupled to the transceiver circuit, and amemory circuit 4005 (also referred to as memory) coupled to theprocessor circuit. The memory circuit 4005 may include computer readableprogram code that when executed by the processor circuit 4003 causes theprocessor circuit to perform operations according to embodimentsdisclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processor circuit 4003may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuit isnot required. The UE may also include an interface (such as a userinterface) coupled with processor 4003, and/or UE may be an IoT and/orMTC device.

As discussed herein, operations of the UE may be performed by processor4003 and/or transceiver 4001. For example, processor 4003 may controltransceiver 4001 to transmit uplink communications through transceiver4001 over a radio interface to a base station eNB of a wirelesscommunication network and/or to receive downlink communications throughtransceiver 4001 from a base station eNB of the wireless communicationnetwork over a radio interface. Moreover, modules may be stored inmemory 4005, and these modules may provide instructions so that wheninstructions of a module are executed by processor 4003, processor 4003performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below withrespect to Example Embodiments).

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a node (also referredto as a network node, base station, eNB, eNodeB, etc.) of a wirelesscommunication network (also referred to as a Radio Access Network RAN)configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments ofinventive concepts. As shown, the network node may include a transceivercircuit 5001 (also referred to as a transceiver) including a transmitterand a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radiocommunications with wireless devices. The network node may include anetwork interface circuit 5007 (also referred to as a network interface)configured to provide communications with other nodes (e.g., with otherbase stations and/or core network nodes) of the RAN. The network nodemay also include a processor circuit 5003 (also referred to as aprocessor) coupled to the transceiver circuit, and a memory circuit 5005(also referred to as memory) coupled to the processor circuit. Thememory circuit 5005 may include computer readable program code that whenexecuted by the processor circuit 5003 causes the processor circuit toperform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. Accordingto other embodiments, processor circuit 5003 may be defined to includememory so that a separate memory circuit is not required.

As discussed herein, operations of the network node may be performed byprocessor 5003, network interface 5007, and/or transceiver 5001. Forexample, processor 5003 may control transceiver 5001 to transmitdownlink communications through transceiver 5001 over a radio interfaceto one or more UEs and/or to receive uplink communications throughtransceiver 5001 from one or more UEs over a radio interface. Similarly,processor 5003 may control network interface 5007 to transmitcommunications through network interface 5007 to one or more othernetwork nodes and/or to receive communications through network interfacefrom one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored inmemory 5005, and these modules may provide instructions so that wheninstructions of a module are executed by processor 5003, processor 5003performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below withrespect to Example Embodiments).

As discussed above, CGI reporting is part of ANR functionality, wherethe UE is requested to read a neighbour cell’s system information(including global cell identity) to assist a base station eNB/gNB tobuild neighbour relation information. CGI measurement may be requestedwhen the UE has reported an unknown PCI (i.e., an unknown neighbourcell). PCI information may be included in all the UE measurement reportswhich may have been initiated for different purposes. When the basestation eNB/gNB has required information about a neighbour cell, thisinformation is stored, and it is used to setup X2/Xn connection (networkinterface connections) between the nodes, which as discussed above maybe used for several different procedures, such as handover, dualconnectivity setup, etc.

In LTE, the UE upon receiving a measurement configuration including areportConfig with the purpose set to reportCGI, starts a timer denotedby T321 and tries to acquire CGI info of the requested cell. If the UEsucceeds within the duration of the timer, it includes CGI info in thereportCGI message and sends it to network (NW). On the other hand, ifthe UE fails to detect the CGI info within the duration of T321, itsends reportCGI message with an empty CGI info field.

There are different ways to deploy a 5G network with or withoutinterworking with existing LTE and evolved packet core (EPC). Some ofthese options are illustrated in FIGS. 1A-E. FIG. 1C, the first versionto be supported is referred to as “option 3” which is referred to asEN-DC (EUTRAN-NR Dual Connectivity). In such a deployment, dualconnectivity between NR and LTE is applied where an LTE base station eNBis a master node and an NR base station gNB is secondary node. The RANnode (gNB) supporting NR, may not have a control plane connection tocore network (EPC), and instead, it may rely on the LTE node eNB asmaster node (MeNB).

This is also referred to as non-standalone (NSA) NR, and there may be no5GCN in this deployment. In this case, the functionality of an NR cellmay be limited to be used for connected mode UEs as a booster and/ordiversity leg, but a UE may not camp on these NR cells.

With introduction of a 5G core network (5GCN), other options may be alsovalid. For example, option 2 for FIG. 1B may support stand-alone (SA) NRdeployment where a 5G base station gNB is connected to 5GCN. Similarly,an LTE base station eNB can also be connected to 5GCN using option 5 ofFIG. 1D. In these cases, both NR and LTE may be seen as part of the NG-RAN which are connected to 5GCN.

System information is divided into the master information block (MIB)and a number of system information blocks (SIBs). The MIB may include alimited number of most essential and/or most frequently transmittedparameters that are used to acquire other information from the cell, andthe MIB is transmitted on BCH (Broadcast Channel).

In particular, the information used/needed for ANR, namely CGI, TAC(Tracking Area Code), and PLMN list may be broadcast in systeminformation block type 1 (SIB1). As NR can be deployed alongside withLTE (more precisely as EN-DC described above), there is the possibilityfor an NR cell to skip SIB1 transmissions. To help wireless devices UEsto realize the absence of SIB1 transmission, an indication regarding SIB1 may be broadcast in MIB. The pdcch-ConfigSIB1 information element (IE)in MIB1 may be made mandatory and one code- point (e.g. all-zeros) as“SIB1 not present” may be assigned. This way, the UE by decoding MIBcontent, can know if SIB1 will be transmitted or not.

In certain scenarios, the UE might not be able to detect the CGI for anunknown cell due to, for example, a bad radio condition. In such casesin LTE, the UE sends a CGI report with empty CGI info field, asdescribed above. This way, the NW would know that the UE was not able todetect the CGI of the unknown cell. In this case, the NW can instructmore wireless devices UEs to perform CGI reporting for the unknown cell,in order to finalize the ANR procedures.

In NR, on the other hand, such mechanisms might fail, as in NR the SIB1can be absent and hence sending more requests to wireless devices UEsfor CGI reporting would not help. With current reporting structures,there may not be any possibility for the network NW to know if anyfailed CGI reporting is due to the absence of SIB1 or not. Accordingly,the network NW may not know if it should send more requests for morewireless devices UEs to perform CGI reporting for an unknown PCI.

According to some embodiments of inventive concepts, a UE may respond toa serving base station with information about the presence or absence ofSIB1 when responding to a request for CGI reporting.

On the UE side, this means that the UE may receive (or read) informationabout the presence/absence of SIB1 from a neighbour cell MIB broadcastchannel, and later report this information to the serving cell. Thenetwork node responsible for the serving cell can then use thisinformation to know if any failed CGI reporting is due to the absence ofSIB1 or due to the UE not being able to detect the CGI of the neighbourcell properly. According to some UE related embodiments of inventiveconcepts, the information about the presence/absence of SIB1 from theneighbour cell may be realized using an enhanced CGI reporting where theUE is provided by the network with a(local) NR cell identifier (e.g., aphysical cell identifier PCI), based on that it first acquires if thecell is broadcasting SIB1 or not. If the neighbour cell broadcasts SIB1,the UE acquires system information associated with that NR cellidentifier. Once that is done, the UE includes that information in ameasurement report and sends the measurement report to the serving node.

According to some network related embodiments of inventive concepts, thereported information is received by the serving base station from the UEabout a reported NR cell(s), and the serving base station can decidewhat actions to take upon a CGI reporting failure. For example, if thefailure is due to the absence of SIB1, the serving base station canreport this to a third network node (for instance to an Operation andManagement, OAM, entity to instruct all cells to broadcast SIB1 for awhile), and if the failure is not due to the absence of SIB1 (the UE hasnot been able to detect CGI), the serving base station can instruct moreUEs to perform CGI reporting for the unknown cell. According to someembodiments of inventive concepts, improved ANR operation may beprovided. The information about the presence/absence of SIB1 can be usedby the NW to trigger more appropriate actions in case of CGI reportingfailure. As mentioned above, in the event that the failed CGI report isnot due to the absence of SIB1, the NW can send requests for morewireless devices UEs to perform CGI reporting, and in the event that thefailed CGI reporting is due to the absence of SIB1, the NW can takeactions such as instructing all cells or cells within a geographicalarea to transmit SIB1 to aid ANR procedures. Moreover, end userperformance may be improved. The UE, upon realizing that SIB1 is absentafter decoding MIB, can send this information along with empty CGI infoin the CGI report without waiting for expiration of a timer (e.g.,expiration of the T321 timer).

CGI reporting may be a part of ANR operation, where the UE is requestedto read system information of neighbour cells (e.g., including cellglobal identity) to assist a base station eNB/gNB building neighbourrelation information. CGI measurement may be requested when the UE hasreported an unknown PCI (an unknown neighbour cell). PCI information maybe included in all the UE measurement reports which may have beeninitiated for different purposes. When the base station eNB/gNB hasrequired information about a neighbour cell, this information may bestored and/or used to setup X2/Xn connection between the nodes (basestations), and this information may be used for different procedures,such as handover, dual connectivity setup, etc.

In some embodiments, the UE may be configured with an NR measurement(this is an inter-RAT measurement, if the UE is connected to an LTE basestation eNB, and otherwise an intra-NR measurement, if the UE isconnected to a 5G base station gNB). When the UE reports a neighbour NRcell’s PCI which is not known in the serving eNB/gNB’s NRT, a NR CellGlobal Identity, NCGI, measurement may be requested by the network.

According to some embodiments, the NCGI measurement report may indicatewhether SIB1 has been present or not.

Based on the information of whether SIB1 is present or absent, the basestation eNB/gNB may determine what actions to take in case if the CGIreporting fails e.g. if it receives a CGI report with empty CGI field:

-   If the failed CGI reporting is due to the absence of SIB1 from the    neighbour cell, the base station can report this to a third NW node,    for example an OAM, for further actions such as instructing all    cells in a certain geographical area to transmit SIB1 for some time.-   If the failed CGI reporting is not due to the absence of SIB1 from    the neighbour cell, the base station can instruct more wireless    devices UEs to perform CGI reporting for the neighbour cell.

There are different ways to indicate the presence of SIB1 in the CGIreport from the UE. According to some embodiments, an additional bit (orflag), denoted as “SIB1 present” in this document for illustration, canbe defined in the CGI report reportCGI. In this case, setting this bit(flag) to 1 (true) indicates the presence of SIB1, and setting this bit(flag) to 0 (false) indicates that the SIB1 is not present. Table 1summarizes the NW actions upon receiving the enhanced CGI report fromthe UE. As shown in Table 1 of FIG. 2 (illustrating NW actions uponreceiving a CGI report):

-   If the “SIB1present” flag is true (=1) and the “CGI Info” is    non-empty, the serving base station eNB/gNB uses the CGI information    to determine the ANR (build the ANR table);-   If the “SIB1 present” flag is true (=1) and the “CGI Info” is empty,    the serving base station instructs one or more other wireless    devices to perform CGI reporting;-   If the “SIB1 present” flag is false (=0) and the “CGI Info” is    empty, the serving base station reports this occurrence to another    NW node.-   The “SIB1 present” flag being false (=0) and the “CGI Info” being    empty, may be regarded as an error, as such combination may not    happen.

In recent discussions, applicant proposed to add an SA/NSA (Stand-Alone/ Non-Stand-Alone) indicator in reportCGI to indicate if the reportedcell is stand-alone or non-stand-alone. SA mode of operation may referto a gNB having a control plane connection to a core network, CN; NSAmode of operation may refer to a gNB not having a control planeconnection to the CN and instead may rely on the serving network node asmaster node. In SA (mode of) operation, the NW base station may need toalways transmit SIB1, and the SA/NSA indicator can thus be used to alsoreport the presence of SIB 1 (multi-purpose). According to someembodiments, the information about the presence/absence of SIB1 can beencoded implicitly using an SA/NSA indicator in reportCGI (if present),as illustrated in Table 2 of FIG. 3 :

-   If the combined SA/NSA-CGI presence/absence indicator flag is set to    true (=1) and the CGI Info is non-empty, the base station eNB/gNB    uses the CGI info to determine the ANR (build the ANR table), and    may also store the info that the cell is SA;-   If the combined SA/NSA-CGI presence/absence indicator flag is set to    false (=0) and the CGI Info is non-empty, the base station eNB/gNB    uses the CGI info to determine ANR (build the ANR table) and may    also store the info that the cell is NSA;-   If the combined SA/NSA-CGI presence/absence indicator flag is set to    true (=1) and the CGI Info is empty, the base station eNB/gNB    instructs at least one other UE to perform CGI reporting; and-   If the combined SA/NSA-CGI presence/absence indicator flag is set to    false (=0) and the CGI Info is empty, the base station eNB/gNB    reports this event to another NW node.

In embodiments, the UE upon decoding the MIB and realizing that the SIB1is absent, does not wait for expiration of the measurement timer (e.g.,a T321 timer). In this case, the UE may stop the measurement (T321)timer and send the CGI report with empty CGI info. The UE indicates tothe serving eNB/gNB base station the absence of SIB 1 using any of theembodiments described above. Operations of a UE will now be discussedwith reference to the flow chart of FIG. 6 according to some embodimentsof inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in wirelessterminal memory 4005 of FIG. 4 , and these modules may provideinstructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed bywireless device processor 4003, processor 4003 performs respectiveoperations of the flow chart of FIG. 6 .

In essence, receiving (611, 613) system information from a neighbourcell, wherein the system information includes a first indication thatthe neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of theneighbour cell; and transmitting (615) a cell identifier report to theRAN, wherein the cell identifier report includes a second indicationthat the neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of theneighbour cell.

FIG. 6 illustrates operations of a UE in a radio access network RAN. Atblock 601, processor 4003 may determine when to transmit a measurementreport to a serving base station eNB/gNB of the RAN. Responsive todetermining to transmit a measurement report, processor may transmit ameasurement report through transceiver 4001 to the serving base stationeNB/gNB of the RAN at block 603, with the measurement report including aphysical cell identifier PCI for a neighbour cell. The PCI, for example,may be encoded in a synchronization signal transmitted by the neighbourcell.

At block 605, processor 4003 may determine if a cell identifier request(e.g., a request for a cell global identifier CGI) is received from theserving base station. The serving base station, for example, maytransmit a cell identifier request if the PCI and/or a corresponding CGIfor the neighbour cell is not included in a neighbour relations tableNRT for the serving base station.

Otherwise, the serving base station may not transmit a cell identifierrequest responsive to the measurement report. If a cell identifierrequest is transmitted, processor may receive a request from the servingbase station of the RAN (through transceiver 4001) to report a cellidentifier of the neighbour cell at block 607, and the request mayinclude the PCI for the neighbour cell.

Responsive to receiving the request from the serving base station,processor 4003 may initiate a measurement timer (e.g., a T321 timer) atblock 609 and receive system information from the neighbour cell throughtransceiver 4001 at block 611. The system information of block 611 mayinclude a master information block MIB with an indication that theneighbour cell does not include a system information block having thecell identifier of the neighbour cell in the system information that isbroadcast. For example, the indication that the neighbour cell does notinclude a system information block having the cell identifier may beprovided in a physical downlink control channel PDCCH ConfigSIB1information element IE of the MIB.

Responsive to the system information including an indication that theneighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of the neighbourcell at block 613, processor 4003 may transmit a cell identifier reportthrough transceiver 4001 to the serving base station at block 615, withthe cell identifier report including an empty cell identifier field andwith an indication that the neighbour cell does not broadcast the cellidentifier of the neighbour cell. Moreover, the cell identifier reportof block 615 may be transmitted before expiration of the measurementtimer responsive to receiving the system information including theindication that the neighbour cell does not broadcast the cellidentifier of the neighbour cell at block 613.

Operations discussed above with respect to blocks 601, 603, 605, 607,609, 611, 613, and 615 may thus be performed when a neighbour celltransmits an indication that a cell identifier is not broadcast.Operations when a neighbour cell transmits an indication that a cellidentifier is broadcast but the cell identifier is not received arediscussed below. At block 601, processor 4003 may determine when totransmit another measurement report to a current serving base stationeNB/gNB of the RAN (e.g., a same serving base station discussed above ora different serving base station). Responsive to determining to transmitanother measurement report, processor 4003 may transmit a measurementreport through transceiver 4001 to the current serving base stationeNB/gNB of the RAN at block 603, with the measurement report including aphysical cell identifier PCI for a second neighbour cell. The PCI, forexample, may be encoded in a synchronization signal transmitted by thesecond neighbour cell.

At block 605, processor 4003 may determine if a cell identifier requestof the second neighbour cell (e.g., a request for a cell globalidentifier CGI) is received from the current serving base station. Thecurrent serving base station, for example, may transmit a cellidentifier request if the PCI and/or a corresponding CGI for the secondneighbour cell is not included in a neighbour relations table NRT forthe current serving base station. Otherwise, the current serving basestation may not transmit a cell identifier request responsive to themeasurement report. If a cell identifier request is transmitted,processor 4003 may receive a request from the current serving basestation of the RAN (through transceiver 4001) to report a cellidentifier of the second neighbour cell at block 607, and the requestmay include the PCI for the second neighbour cell. Responsive toreceiving the request from the current serving base station, processor4003 may initiate the measurement timer (e.g., a T321 timer) at block609 and receive system information from the second neighbour cellthrough transceiver 4001 at block 611. The system information of block611 from the second neighbour cell may include a master informationblock MIB with an indication that the second neighbour cell does includea system information block having the cell identifier of the secondneighbour cell in the system information that is broadcast. For example,the indication that the second neighbour cell does include a systeminformation block having the cell identifier may be provided in aphysical downlink control channel PDCCH ConfigSIB 1 information elementIE of the MIB broadcast by the second neighbour cell.

Responsive to the system information including an indication that theneighbour cell does broadcast the cell identifier of the neighbour cellat block 613 and responsive to expiration of the measurement timerwithout receiving the cell identifier of the second neighbour cell atblocks 617 and 621, processor 4003 may transmit a cell identifier reportfor the second neighbour cell through transceiver 4001 to the currentserving base station at block 623. More particularly, the cellidentifier report of block 623 may include an empty cell identifierinformation field and an indication that the second neighbour cell doesbroadcast the cell identifier of the second neighbour cell.

Operations discussed above with respect to blocks 601, 603, 605, 607,609, 611, 613, 617, 621, and 623 may thus be performed when a neighbourcell transmits an indication that a cell identifier is broadcast but acell identifier is not received. Operations when a cell identifier isreceived from a neighbour cell are discussed below.

At block 601, processor 4003 may determine when to transmit anothermeasurement report to a current serving base station eNB/gNB of the RAN(e.g., a same serving base station discussed above or a differentserving base station). Responsive to determining to transmit anothermeasurement report, processor 4003 may transmit a measurement reportthrough transceiver 4001 to the current serving base station eNB/gNB ofthe RAN at block 603, with the measurement report including a physicalcell identifier PCI for a third neighbour cell. The PCI, for example,may be encoded in a synchronization signal transmitted by the thirdneighbour cell.

At block 605, processor 4003 may determine if a cell identifier requestof the third neighbour cell (e.g., a request for a cell globalidentifier CGI) is received from the current serving base station. Thecurrent serving base station, for example, may transmit a cellidentifier request if the PCI and/or a corresponding CGI for the thirdneighbour cell is not included in a neighbour relations table NRT forthe current serving base station. Otherwise, the current serving basestation may not transmit a cell identifier request responsive to themeasurement report. If a cell identifier request is transmitted,processor 4003 may receive a request from the current serving basestation of the RAN (through transceiver 4001) to report a cellidentifier of the third neighbour cell at block 607, and the request mayinclude the PCI for the third neighbour cell.

Responsive to receiving the request from the current serving basestation, processor 4003 may initiate the measurement timer (e.g., a T321timer) at block 609 and receive system information from the thirdneighbour cell through transceiver 4001 at block 611. The systeminformation of block 611 from the third neighbour cell may include amaster information block MIB with an indication that the third neighbourcell does include a system information block having the cell identifierof the third neighbour cell in the system information that is broadcast.For example, the indication that the third neighbour cell does include asystem information block having the cell identifier may be provided in aphysical downlink control channel PDCCH ConfigSIB 1 information elementIE of the MIB broadcast by the third neighbour cell.

At block 617, processor 4003 may receive (through transceiver 4001)system information including the cell identifier for the third neighbourcell before expiration of the measurement timer at block 621, and atblock 619, processor 4003 may transmit a cell identifier report throughtransceiver 4001 to the current serving base station, with the cellidentifier report including the cell identifier of the third neighbourcell and a stand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator for the third neighbourcell. The same field (e.g., bit) of a cell identifier report may thus beused to indicate that a cell identifier is or is not broadcast when anempty cell identifier field is provided in cell identifier reports ofblocks 615 and/or 623, or to indicate that a neighbour cell isstand-alone/non-stand-alone when a cell identifier is provided in cellidentifier reports of block 619.

According to some other embodiments, separate fields (e.g., separatebits) of a cell identifier report may be used to communicate indicationsthat a cell identifier is or is not broadcast and to communicatestand-alone/non-stand-alone status.

Various operations from the flow chart of FIG. 6 may be optional withrespect to some embodiments of wireless devices and related methods.Regarding methods of example embodiment 1 (set forth below), forexample, operations of blocks 601, 603, 605, 609, 617, 619, 621, and 623of FIG. 6 may be optional.

Operations of a base station eNB will now be discussed with reference tothe flow chart of FIG. 7 . For example, modules may be stored in basestation memory 5005 of FIG. 5 , and these modules may provideinstructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed byprocessor 5003, processor 5003 performs respective operations of theflow chart of FIG. 5 .

FIG. 7 illustrates operations of a base station eNB/gNB of a radioaccess network RAN. At block 701, processor 5003 may determine if ameasurement report has been transmitted by a UE. When a measurementreport has been transmitted, processor 5003 may receive the measurementreport from the wireless device through transceiver 5001 at block 703,with the measurement report including a physical cell identifier PCI fora neighbour cell. Provided that a cell global identifier CGI for theneighbour cell (corresponding to the PCI) is included in a neighbourrelations table NRT for the base station, no further action regardingthe NRT may be required.

Responsive to the CGI for the neighbour cell not being included in theNRT for the base station at block 705, however, processor 5003 maytransmit a request through transceiver 5001 to the UE at block 707, withthe request being a request to report a cell identifier of the neighbourcell (e.g., the CGI of the neighbour cell). Moreover, the request mayinclude the PCI of the neighbour cell.

At block 709, processor 5003 may receive a cell identifier report fromthe wireless device. Responsive to the cell identifier report includingan empty cell identifier information field and an indication that theneighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of the neighbourcell at blocks 711 and 717, processor 5003 may transmit a notificationthrough network interface 5007 to another node of the RAN at block 719.Operations discussed above with respect to blocks 701, 703, 705, 707,709, 711, 717, and 719 may thus be performed when a cell identifierreport includes an empty cell ID field and an indication that theneighbour cell does not broadcast a cell identifier. Operations when acell identifier report includes an empty cell ID field and an indicationthat the neighbour cell does broadcast a cell identifier are discussedbelow. At block 701, processor 5003 may determine if a measurementreport has been transmitted by a UE. When a measurement report has beentransmitted, processor 5003 may receive the measurement report from thewireless device (e.g., the same or a different wireless device from thewireless device discussed above) through transceiver 5001 at block 703,with the measurement report including a physical cell identifier PCI fora second neighbour cell.

Provided that a cell global identifier CGI for the second neighbour cell(corresponding to the PCI) is included in a neighbour relations tableNRT for the base station, no further action regarding the NRT may berequired.

Responsive to the CGI for the second neighbour cell not being includedin the NRT for the base station at block 705, however, processor 5003may transmit a request through transceiver 5001 to the UE at block 707,with the request being a request to report a cell identifier of thesecond neighbour cell (e.g., the CGI of the second neighbour cell).Moreover, the request may include the PCI of the second neighbour cell.

At block 709, processor 5003 may receive a cell identifier report fromthe wireless device. Responsive to the cell identifier report includingan empty cell identifier information field and an indication that thesecond neighbour cell does broadcast the cell identifier of the secondneighbour cell at blocks 711 and 717, processor 5003 may transmit arequest through transceiver 5001 to another wireless device at block721, with the request being a request for the other wireless device toreport a cell global identifier (CGI) of the second neighbour cell. Theother wireless device may be able to receive the CGI of the secondneighbour cell and provide a cell identifier report with the CGI for thesecond neighbour cell. Moreover, the request of block 721 may includethe PCI of the second neighbour cell.

Operations discussed above with respect to blocks 701, 703, 705, 707,709, 711, 717, and 721 may thus be performed when a cell identifierreport includes an empty cell ID field and an indication that the secondneighbour cell does broadcast a cell identifier. Operations when a cellidentifier report includes a cell identifier (e.g., CGI) are discussedbelow.

At block 701, processor 5003 may determine if a measurement report hasbeen transmitted by a UE. When a measurement report has beentransmitted, processor 5003 may receive the measurement report from thewireless device (e.g., the same or a different wireless device from thewireless device/devices discussed above) through transceiver 5001 atblock 703, with the measurement report including a physical cellidentifier PCI for a third neighbour cell. Provided that a cell globalidentifier CGI for the third neighbour cell (corresponding to the PCI)is included in a neighbour relations table NRT for the base station, nofurther action regarding the NRT may be required. Responsive to the CGIfor the third neighbour cell not being included in the NRT for the basestation at block 705, however, processor 5003 may transmit a requestthrough transceiver 5001 to the UE at block 707, with the request beinga request to report a cell identifier of the third neighbour cell (e.g.,the CGI of the third neighbour cell). Moreover, the request may includethe PCI of the third neighbour cell.

At block 709, processor 5003 may receive a cell identifier report fromthe wireless device. Responsive to the cell identifier report includingthe cell identifier of the third neighbour cell at block 711, processor5003 may update the NRT for the base station using the cell identifierof the third neighbour cell. In addition to the cell identifier for thethird neighbour cell (e.g., CGI), the cell identifier report for thethird neighbour cell may provide a stand-alone/non-stand-aloneindicator.

The same field (e.g., bit) of a cell identifier report may be used toindicate that a cell identifier is or is not broadcast when an emptycell identifier field is received in cell identifier reports of blocks709, 711, and 717 or to indicate that a neighbour cell isstand-alone/non-stand-alone when a cell identifier is provided in cellidentifier reports of blocks 709 and 711. According to some otherembodiments, separate fields (e.g., separate bits) of a cell identifierreport may be used to communicate indications that a cell identifier isor is not broadcast and to communicate stand- alone/non-stand-alonestatus of a neighbour cell.

Various operations from the flow chart of FIG. 7 may be optional withrespect to some embodiments of base stations and related methods.Regarding methods of example embodiment 13 (set forth below), forexample, operations of blocks 701, 703, 705, 713, 719, and 721 of FIG. 7may be optional.

Further example embodiments of inventive concepts are set forth below.

1. A method of operating a wireless terminal (UE) in a radio accessnetwork, RAN, the method comprising:

-   receiving (611, 613) system information from a neighbour cell,    wherein the system information includes a first indication that the    neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of the    neighbour cell; and-   transmitting (615) a cell identifier report to the RAN, wherein the    cell identifier report includes a second indication that the    neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of the    neighbour cell.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cell identifier is a cell globalidentifier, CGI, of the neighbour cell, the method further comprising:

-   transmitting (603) a measurement report to the RAN, wherein the    measurement report includes a physical cell identifier, PCI, for the    neighbour cell; and-   receiving (607) a request from the RAN to report the cell identifier    of the neighbour cell, wherein the request from the RAN includes the    PCI for the neighbour cell.

3. The method of Embodiment 2, wherein the PCI is encoded in asynchronization signal transmitted by the neighbour cell.

4. The method of any of Embodiments 2-3 further

-   comprising: initiating (609) a timer responsive to-   receiving the request;-   wherein transmitting the cell identifier report includes    transmitting the cell identifier report to the RAN before expiration    of the timer responsive to receiving the system information    including the first indication that the neighbour cell does not    broadcast the cell identifier of the neighbour cell.

5. The method of Embodiment 4, wherein the timer comprises a T321 timer.

6. The method of any of Embodiments 1-5, wherein the neighbour cell is afirst neighbour cell, wherein the system information is first systeminformation, and wherein the cell identifier report is a first cellidentifier report, the method further comprising:

-   receiving (607) a request from the RAN to report a cell identifier    of a second neighbour cell;-   initiating (609) a timer responsive to receiving the request;-   receiving (611, 613, 617) second system information from the second    neighbour cell

responsive to receiving the second request, wherein the second systeminformation includes a third indication that the second neighbour celldoes broadcast the second cell identifier of the second neighbour cell;and

-   transmitting (623) a second cell identifier report to the RAN    responsive to the indication that the neighbour cell does broadcast    the cell identifier of the second neighbour cell and responsive to    expiration of the timer without receiving the cell identifier of the    second neighbour cell, wherein the cell identifier report includes    an empty cell identifier information field and a fourth indication    that the second neighbour cell does broadcast the cell identifier of    the second neighbour cell.

7. The method of Embodiment 6, wherein the timer comprises a T321 timer.

8. The method of any of Embodiments 1-7, wherein the second indicationthat the neighbour cell does not include a system information block isprovided in a field of the cell identifier report used to provide astand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator when the cell identifierinformation field is non-empty.

9. The method of any of Embodiments 1-5, wherein the second indicationthat the neighbour cell does not include a system information block isprovided in a field of the cell identifier report used to provide astand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator when the cell identifierinformation field is non-empty, wherein the neighbour cell is a firstneighbour cell, wherein the system information is first systeminformation, and wherein the cell identifier report is a first cellidentifier report, the method further comprising:

-   receiving (607) a request from the RAN to report a cell identifier    of a second neighbour cell;-   receiving (611, 613, 617) system information from the neighbour cell    responsive to receiving the request, wherein the system information    includes a third indication that the neighbour cell does broadcast    the cell identifier of the second neighbour cell and the cell    identifier for the second neighbour cell; and-   transmitting (619) a cell identifier report to the RAN, wherein the    second cell identifier report includes the cell identifier of the    second neighbour cell and a stand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator    for the second neighbour cell.

10. The method of any of Embodiments 1-9, wherein the cell identifierreport is transmitted to a serving base station (eNB, gNB) of the RAN.

11. The method of any of Embodiments 1-10, wherein the systeminformation comprises a master information block, MIB, including theindication that the neighbour cell does not include a system informationblock having the cell identifier of the neighbour cell in the systeminformation.

12. The method of Embodiment 11, wherein the indication that theneighbour cell does not include a system information block having thecell identifier is provided in a physical downlink control channel,PDCCH, ConfigSIB 1 information element, IE, of the MIB.

13. The method of any of Embodiments 1-12 further comprising:

-   receiving (607) a request from the RAN to report a cell identifier    of a neighbour cell;-   wherein receiving the system information comprises receiving the    system information from the neighbour cell responsive to receiving    the request.

14. The method of any of Embodiments 1-13, wherein transmitting the cellidentifier report comprises transmitting the cell identifier reportresponsive to the first indication that the neighbour cell does notbroadcast the cell identifier of the neighbour cell.

15. The method of any of Embodiments 1-14, wherein the cell identifierreport includes an empty cell identifier information field and thesecond indication that the neighbour cell does not broadcast the cellidentifier of the neighbour cell.

16. A method of operating a base station (eNB, gNB) of a radio accessnetwork, RAN, the method comprising:

receiving (709, 711, 717) a cell identifier report from a wirelessdevice, wherein the cell identifier report includes an indication thatthe neighbour cell does not broadcast the cell identifier of theneighbour cell.

17. The method of Embodiment 16 further comprising:

transmitting (719) a notification to another node of the RAN responsiveto the indication that the neighbour cell does not broadcast the cellidentifier of the neighbour cell.

18. The method of any of Embodiments 16-17, wherein the wireless deviceis a first wireless device, wherein cell identifier report is a firstcell identifier report, and wherein the neighbour cell is a firstneighbour cell, the method further comprising:

-   transmitting (707) a request to a second wireless device, wherein    the request is a request to report a second cell identifier of a    second neighbour cell;-   receiving (709, 711, 717) a second cell identifier report from the    second wireless device, wherein the second cell identifier report    includes a second empty cell identifier information field and an    indication that the second neighbour cell does broadcast the second    cell identifier of the second neighbour cell; and-   transmitting (721) a request to a third wireless device responsive    to the second cell identifier report including the second empty cell    identifier information field and responsive to the indication that    the second neighbour cell does broadcast the second cell identifier    of the second neighbour cell.

19. The method of any of Embodiments 16-18, wherein the cell identifieris a cell global identifier, CGI, of the neighbour cell, the methodfurther comprising:

-   receiving (703) a measurement report from the wireless device,    wherein the measurement report includes a physical cell identifier,    PCI, for the neighbour cell;-   transmitting (707) a request to the wireless device to report a cell    identifier of a neighbour cell, wherein the request is transmitted    responsive to receiving the measurement report and responsive to the    CGI not being included in a neighbour relations table, NRT, for the    base station, and wherein the request includes the PCI.

20. The method of any of Embodiments 16-19, wherein the indication thatthe neighbour cell does not include a system information block isprovided in a field of the cell identifier report used to provide astand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator when the cell identifierinformation field is non-empty.

21. The method of any of Embodiments 16-17, wherein the indication thatthe neighbour cell does not include a system information block isprovided in a field of the cell identifier report used to provide astand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator when the cell identifierinformation field is non-empty, the wireless device is a first wirelessdevice, wherein cell identifier report is a first cell identifierreport, and wherein the neighbour cell is a first neighbour cell, themethod further comprising:

-   transmitting (707) a request to a second wireless device, wherein    the request is a request to report a cell identifier of a second    neighbour cell;-   receiving (709, 711) a second cell identifier report from the second    wireless device, wherein the second cell identifier report includes    the cell identifier of the second neighbour cell and a    stand-alone/non-stand-alone indicator for the second neighbour cell;    and-   updating (713) a neighbour relations table, NRT, for the base    station using the cell identifier of the second neighbour cell.

22. The method of any of Embodiments 16, 17, 18, 20, or 21 furthercomprising: transmitting (707) a request to the wireless device (UE)wherein the request is a request to report a cell identifier of aneighbour cell.

23. The method of any of Embodiments 16-22, wherein the cell identifierreport includes an empty cell identifier information field and theindication that the neighbour cell does not broadcast the cellidentifier of the neighbour cell.

24. A first wireless device (UE) comprising:

-   a transceiver (4001) configured to provide wireless network    communication with a wireless communication network; and-   a processor (4003) coupled with the transceiver, wherein the    processor is configured to provide wireless network communication    through the transceiver, and wherein the processor is configured to    perform operations according to any of Embodiments 1-15.

25. A wireless device (UE) being adapted to perform according to any ofEmbodiments 1-15.

26. A base station (eNB, gNB) of a wireless communication network, thebase station comprising:

-   a transceiver (5001) configured to provide wireless network    communication with a wireless terminal; and-   a processor (5003) coupled with the transceiver, wherein the    processor is configured to provide wireless network communications    through the transceiver, and wherein the processor is configured to    perform operations according to any of Embodiments 16-23.

27. A base station (eNB, gNB) of a radio access network, wherein thebase station is adapted to perform according to any of Embodiments16-23.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating elements of a wireless device UE3330 (also referred to as a wireless terminal, a wireless communicationdevice, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, a userequipment node/terminal/device, etc.) configured to provide wirelesscommunication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. As shown,wireless device UE may include an antenna 3336, and a transceivercircuit 3337 (also referred to as radio interface) including atransmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlinkradio communications with a base station (gNB) of a wirelesscommunication network (also referred to as a radio access network RAN).Wireless device UE may also include a processor circuit 3338 (alsoreferred to as processing circuitry) coupled to the transceiver circuit,and a memory circuit 3335 (also referred to as memory) coupled to theprocessor circuit. The memory circuit 3335 may include computer readableprogram code that when executed by the processor circuit 3338 causes theprocessor circuit to perform operations according to embodimentsdisclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processor circuit 3338may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuit isnot required.

Wireless device UE may also include an interface (such as a userinterface) coupled with processor 3338, and/or wireless device UE may bean IoT and/or MTC device.

As discussed herein, operations of wireless device UE may be performedby processor 3338 and/or transceiver 3337. For example, processor 3338may control transceiver 3337 to transmit uplink communications throughtransceiver 3337 over a radio interface to a base station of a wirelesscommunication network (e.g., a gNB base station including a gNB-CU andone or more gNB-DUs) and/or to receive downlink communications throughtransceiver 3337 from a base station (e.g., a gNB base station includinga gNB-CU and one or more gNB-DUs) of the wireless communication networkover a radio interface. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory 3335,and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions ofa module are executed by processor 3338, processor 3338 performsrespective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect toExample Embodiments).

The invention may be especially beneficial in a cloud implementation (orvirtualized environment), where the physical placement of the networknodes may not be transparent or may be at least partially unknown.Moreover, the physical placement of DU’ s and CU’s may vary and thenumber of intermediate nodes may vary as well. As a consequence of this,the UL and DL delay characteristics will also show significantvariations depending on configuration and distances; it may bebeneficial to continuously measure the delay contributions of the UL andDL.

With reference to FIG. 8 , in accordance with an embodiment, acommunication system includes a telecommunication network 3210, such asa 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network 3211,such as a radio access network, and a core network 3214.

The access network 3211 comprises a plurality of base stations 3212 a,3212 b, 3212 c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wirelessaccess points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 3213 a, 3213b, 3213 c. Each base station 3212 a, 3212 b, 3212 c is connectable tothe core network 3214 over a wired or wireless connection 3215. A firstuser equipment (UE) 3291 located in coverage area 3213 c is configuredto wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station3212 c. A second UE 3292 in coverage area 3213 a is wirelesslyconnectable to the corresponding base station 3212 a. While a pluralityof UEs 3291, 3292 are illustrated in this example, the disclosedembodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is inthe coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the correspondingbase station 3212. The telecommunication network 3210 is itselfconnected to a host computer 3230, which may be embodied in the hardwareand/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, adistributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The hostcomputer 3230 may be under the ownership or control of a serviceprovider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of theservice provider. The connections 3221, 3222 between thetelecommunication network 3210 and the host computer 3230 may extenddirectly from the core network 3214 to the host computer 3230 or may govia an optional intermediate network 3220. The intermediate network 3220may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, privateor hosted network; the intermediate network 3220, if any, may be abackbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediatenetwork 3220 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of FIG. 8 as a whole enables connectivitybetween one of the connected UEs 3291, 3292 and the host computer 3230.The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection3250. The host computer 3230 and the connected UEs 3291, 3292 areconfigured to communicate data and/or signaling via the OTT connection3250, using the access network 3211, the core network 3214, anyintermediate network 3220 and possible further infrastructure (notshown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 3250 may be transparent inthe sense that the participating communication devices through which theOTT connection 3250 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlinkcommunications. For example, a base station 3212 may not or need not beinformed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communicationwith data originating from a host computer 3230 to be forwarded (e.g.,handed over) to a connected UE 3291. Similarly, the base station 3212need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplinkcommunication originating from the UE 3291 towards the host computer3230.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE,base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphswill now be described with reference to FIG. 9 . In a communicationsystem 3300, a host computer 3310 comprises hardware 3315 including acommunication interface 3316 configured to set up and maintain a wiredor wireless connection with an interface of a different communicationdevice of the communication system 3300. The host computer 3310 furthercomprises processing circuitry 3318, which may have storage and/orprocessing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry 3318may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specificintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations ofthese (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer3310 further comprises software 3311, which is stored in or accessibleby the host computer 3310 and executable by the processing circuitry3318. The software 3311 includes a host application 3312. The hostapplication 3312 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user,such as a UE 3330 connecting via an OTT connection 3350 terminating atthe UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to theremote user, the host application 3312 may provide user data which istransmitted using the OTT connection 3350.

The communication system 3300 further includes a base station 3320provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 3325enabling it to communicate with the host computer 3310 and with the UE3330. The base station 3320 may comprise a CU 7000 and one or aplurality of DUs 6000. The hardware 3325 may include a communicationinterface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wirelessconnection with an interface of a different communication device of thecommunication system 3300, as well as a radio interface 3327 for settingup and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330located in a coverage area (not shown in FIG. 9 ) served by the basestation 3320. The communication interface 3326 may be configured tofacilitate a connection 3360 to the host computer 3310. The connection3360 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown inFIG. 9 ) of the telecommunication system and/or through one or moreintermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In theembodiment shown, the hardware 3325 of the base station 3320 furtherincludes processing circuitry 3328, which may comprise one or moreprogrammable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, fieldprogrammable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted toexecute instructions. The base station 3320 further has software 3321stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

The communication system 3300 further includes the UE 3330 alreadyreferred to. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a basestation serving a coverage area in which the UE 3330 is currentlylocated. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 further includes processingcircuitry 3338, which may comprise one or more programmable processors,application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arraysor combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions.The UE 3330 further comprises software 3331, which is stored in oraccessible by the UE 3330 and executable by the processing circuitry3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The clientapplication 3332 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 3330, with the support of the host computer 3310.In the host computer 3310, an executing host application 3312 maycommunicate with the executing client application 3332 via the OTTconnection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310.In providing the service to the user, the client application 3332 mayreceive request data from the host application 3312 and provide userdata in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 maytransfer both the request data and the user data. The client application3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data that itprovides.

It is noted that the host computer 3310, base station 3320 and UE 3330illustrated in FIG. 9 may be identical to the host computer 3230, one ofthe base stations 3212 a, 3212 b, 3212 c and one of the UEs 3291, 3292of FIG. 8 , respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of theseentities may be as shown in FIG. 9 and independently, the surroundingnetwork topology may be that of FIG. 8 .

In FIG. 9 , the OTT connection 3350 has been drawn abstractly toillustrate the communication between the host computer 3310 and the userequipment 3330 via the base station 3320, without explicit reference toany intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via thesedevices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it maybe configured to hide from the UE 3330 or from the service provideroperating the host computer 3310, or both. While the OTT connection 3350is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions bywhich it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of loadbalancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station3320 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments describedthroughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodimentsimprove the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 3330 usingthe OTT connection 3350, in which the wireless connection 3370 forms thelast segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments mayimprove the latency or power consumption and thereby provide benefitssuch as better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime.

A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoringdata rate, latency and other factors on which the one or moreembodiments improve. There may further be an optional networkfunctionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the hostcomputer 3310 and UE 3330, in response to variations in the measurementresults. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality forreconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software3311 of the host computer 3310 or in the software 3331 of the UE 3330,or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or inassociation with communication devices through which the OTT connection3350 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure bysupplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, orsupplying values of other physical quantities from which software 3311,3331 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguringof the OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmissionsettings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect thebase station 3320, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the basestation 3320. Such procedures and functionalities may be known andpracticed in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involveproprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer’s 3310measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. Themeasurements may be implemented in that the software 3311, 3331 causesmessages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages,using the OTT connection 3350 while it monitors propagation times,errors etc.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 . Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 10will be included in this section. In a first step 3410 of the method,the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep 3411 of thefirst step 3410, the host computer provides the user data by executing ahost application. In a second step 3420, the host computer initiates atransmission carrying the user data to the UE. In an optional third step3430, the base station transmits to the UE the user data which wascarried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, inaccordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughoutthis disclosure. In an optional fourth step 3440, the UE executes aclient application associated with the host application executed by thehost computer.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 . Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 11will be included in this section. In a first step 3510 of the method,the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown)the host computer provides the user data by executing a hostapplication. In a second step 3520, the host computer initiates atransmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may passvia the base station, in accordance with the teachings of theembodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional thirdstep 3530, the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 . Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 12will be included in this section. In an optional first step 3610 of themethod, the UE receives input data provided by the host computer.Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step 3620, the UEprovides user data. In an optional substep 3621 of the second step 3620,the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In afurther optional substep 3611 of the first step 3610, the UE executes aclient application which provides the user data in reaction to thereceived input data provided by the host computer. In providing the userdata, the executed client application may further consider user inputreceived from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which theuser data was provided, the UE initiates, in an optional third substep3630, transmission of the user data to the host computer. In a fourthstep 3640 of the method, the host computer receives the user datatransmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of theembodiments described throughout this disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in acommunication system, in accordance with one embodiment. Thecommunication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UEwhich may be those described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 . Forsimplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to FIG. 13will be included in this section. In an optional first step 3710 of themethod, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments describedthroughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from theUE. In an optional second step 3720, the base station initiatestransmission of the received user data to the host computer. In a thirdstep 3730, the host computer receives the user data carried in thetransmission initiated by the base station.

1. A method of operating a wireless terminal, UE, connected to a networknode associated to a serving cell of a radio access network, RAN, themethod comprising: receiving a request from the network node to report aglobal cell identifier, CGI, of a neighbor cell of the serving cell;starting a timer responsive to receiving the request to report the CGI;receiving system information from a neighbor cell; determining from thesystem information if the neighbor cell does or does not broadcast theCGI of the neighbor cell; transmitting a CGI report to the network node;wherein if the neighbor cell does not broadcast the CGI, including intothe CGI report an indication that the neighbor cell does not broadcastthe CGI of the neighbor cell; and transmitting the CGI report beforeexpiration of the timer.